The Company Men

The protagonists in "The Company Men" are all big-bucks business types. They're men in suits, their briefcases permanently attached to their fingers as they discuss numbers and percentages in daily meetings. They all live in comfortable, splendid suburban homes, with beautiful families to boot. Every ioda of their existence is an image of success, the sort of thing we, as a society, are told to aim for. They are living The America Dream. "The Company Men" takes these affluent types and rids them of their precious jobs, leaving them unemployed and job-searching, their abundance tipping and their careers vanished into thin air.

This is John Wells' timely tale of the ruthless bitch that is the business world. Here, the writer-director is tackling the cruel recession us folks have suffered through in recent times, the economy having taken an agonising blow to the gonads. It assesses the effects of downsizing, leaning a little more towards the negative impact this money-saving strategy can have on fired individuals. Damn you, corporate buffoons!

The company in question here is Global Transportation Systems (GTX), a fictional Boston-based corporation limping under the pressure of the economic downturn. As a result of this, they are forced to give a hefty amount of employees the can, butchering their staff count to save on some dosh.

One of the first to get the sack is Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck, "The Town"), an accomplished 37-year-old salesman who strolls into work one fine day, bragging of his morning golfing score to his po-faced colleagues, only to be given a pink slip. Shocked, he tells his boss to "fuck off," goes home, tells his wife (Rosemarie DeWitt, "Rachel Getting Married"), and realises he's gonna have to get a new job.

In a later stage of the occupational lottery, company co-founder Gene McClary (Tommy Lee Jones, "No Country for Old Men") and executive Phil Woodward (Chris Cooper, "American Beauty") are also left without employment. Both formerly top-ranking men of their business, Gene and Phil go through a similar struggle for a nine-to-five position.

The film charts the experiences of these three unfortunate men as they battle it out to make ends meet without their colossal pay checks to help. Each deals with the predicament in a different way, their emotional and physical reactions dissimilar to one another, though equally heartbreaking.

Now, you may ask: "Why should we care about these rich white men losing their over-paying jobs?" but "The Company Men" impressively avoids this flaw. Wells (who has had stints on "The West Wing" and "ER") manages to overcome this in his wonderful script, crafting characters we care about and surprisingly identify with.

We can sense Affleck's frustration as he whacks golf balls down a course again and again. We can see the pain Cooper is going through as he drunkenly hurls stones at the company's windows. And we can perceive Jones' sadness because of his, y'know, his usual sad, craggy face.

They're white-collar professionals suddenly left without a job, unable to find a new one that best fits their personal requirements. Anyone can identify with this, as our three protagonists have their blissful lives yanked out of their mits, now forced to scramble together as much money as they can to survive. They become regular folks.

The film clutches on to sentimentality as bad-tempered family man Bobby quests for a new job, having to reluctantly take on construction work alongside his blue-collar brother-in-law Jack (Kevin Costner, "Dances with Wolves"). Once a man with a fancy sports car who looked down on natural born workers, Bobby begins to appreciate the not-so-sophisticated labour.

Phil could be said to be the weakest of the three men, his unemployed status making him feel shame and rage, turning him to alcohol. "I won't let the bastards just kick me out after 30 years," he shouts. He's pushing 60, making him a difficult sell to employers, and nobody's interested in him. Without his job, he has nothing to do, and he is nothing.

Gene, unexpectedly fired by his oldest friend (Craig T. Nelson, "Blades of Glory"), was the sharp-witted veteran of the firm, claiming to be the "first employee" at a benefit. He's having an affair with a co-worker, turning to her upon receiving the news that he is jobless. He believes in loyalty over income, a value no longer shared by the firm's CEO.

"The Company Men" succeeds in being a character story as well as a noggin-poker about corporations and finances. Its trio of protagonists, each humiliated at the thought of being unemployed, are vastly sympathetic individuals, Wells' writing encouraging us to tune in to their anguish. It's a tender (albeit corny) film, and one to make us hate those heartless companies even more than we already do. They're such gits.

8/10